In situ ultrathin silica layer formation on polyamide thin-film composite membrane surface for enhanced forward osmosis performances

Polyamide (PA) based thin-film composite (TFC) membranes experience a high degree of organic fouling due to their hydrophobic and rough membrane surfaces during forward osmosis (FO) process. In this study, an ultrathin silica layer was grown in situ on the PA surface enhance antifouling property TFC by silicification Surface characterization confirmed development surface. The superhydrophilic silica-deposited (contact angle 20°) with 3 h time (STFC-3h) displayed 53% higher water flux than pristine without significantly affecting selectivity. silica-modified FO also exhibited excellent stability when subjected long-term cross-flow shear stress rinsing using deionized (DI) water, including exposure salty, acidic basic solutions. Moreover, tests showed that STFC-3h lost only 4.2%, 9.1% 12.1% its initial bovine serum albumin (BSA), humic acid (HA) sodium alginate (SA), respectively, which are considerably lower compared where losses were 18.7%, 23.2% 37.2%, respectively. revealed recovery ratio (FRR) 99.6%, 96.9% 94.4% BSA, HA SA, after physical cleaning (91.4%, 88.7%, 81.2%, respectively). Overall, formation hydrophilic reported work shows membrane's could be improved diminishing